Arched construction of weirs and other retaining-walls.



W. H. SHIELDS. ARGHED CONSTRUCTION OF WEIBS AND OTHER RETAINING WALLS.

Patented July 6, 1909.

APPLICATION FILED APBHIS, 1907.

WILLIAM HERBERT sruEL'ns, or GOTTESLOE, WESTERN AUSTRALIAL'AUSTRALIA.

ARCHED cons'rmrc'rron or wnms annomnna'mmme-waus- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 13, 1907. Serial no. aoaoaa.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM SnIELDs, a subject of the King of Great Britment of a series or by the span is divided or broken up into any span or cross section of t ain, residing at Cottesloe', in the State of Western Australia and Commonwealth of Australia, have invented certain new and;

useful Improvements in Arched Construction of Weirs and other Retaining-Walls, of which the following is a specification.

The purpose of this invention is to construct weirs, embankments, retaining walls and analogous constructions in a multiple arched manner whereby the strength of the material is brought into operation and taken advantage of instead-of by the dead weight alone as is the case now in a solid construction of the usual wedge sha e sectioni The invention is applicab e in-its use for all classes of weirs and retaining walls whether of brick, concrete and stone or masonry' and similar constructive work and the invention essentially consists in the e n loymultiple of arches w ere number of arches and abutments. This des1 mi ierial and in' the maximum effective strength bein obtained from. the body of material whic may be employed; 7

In my invention as ap lied to a weir the e valley is divided up by a-series of piers or abutments, the latter being connected to each other by arches.

The face of the weir when constructed accordin to this invention slopes at an ap angle andithe weir is of a hollowed out or arched section instead of being of the solid wedge shape. a In order that the construction of the invention may be clearly understood reference Be made to the attached drawings in w 1c 2-- Figure 1 is a pers ective view showing my invention as applie to a dam or weir. Fig. 2 is a front face elevation of same. Fig. 3 being a top plan view and, Fi 4a sectional elevation of the construction s own in 2.

In these drawings the weir or retaining wall is built across the face of the valley a said weir being composed or made up y a series or multiple of arches as b and supported by the walls or abutments. c. The arches HERRERT' larger at the foot as d crown as c and as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

of construction results in economy ofasv b constituting the weir may be made Between each of the abutments c'is formed "the resultant recesses f which give the hol lowed out formation to their weir. The reservoir is denoted by the, letter 9 while h is the bridge or parapet across the-weir. In order'to' reinforce the wall to prevent its shifting under the weight of the water or other material it retains, and also to provide a liquid seal to prevent escape of the hquid, I provide a depending rib as which extends throughout the length of the lower edge of the s anting wall formed by the row of arches I), this rib beingformedby acking thecement orlaying t e brick 'or 0t er material into a corres ondingly arran ed trench. The upper rear 0 go of the wall iormed by the series of arches b is also provided prefer- "ablywith a series of Ion 'tudinallyj spaced elevated piers g on whic is mounted the pagspet or bridge h,

Letters-Patent is 1-- walls 'avin their forward edges inclined, a

Patented m a, race.-

and tapering to the Y 15 at I do claim and desire to obtain byseries of arc es s arming the spaces between said walls and ying substantially in the plane of the inclined edges thereof, the lower edges of said arches merging into a rib continuous with the lower edges of the arches and arran ed in the lane of the lower edges of said we said rib eing adapted to engage in a longitudinal trench.

2. A structure of the character described, embodying a set of suitably spaced supporting walls, a series of arc es spanning the spaces between the walls and arranged in inc 'ned relation thereto, a series of longitudinally spaced iers supported above the upper edges of t e several arches. and elevated above the latter, and a parapet mounted on the piers.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto-set my hand'in presence of two subscribing wit- HERBERT SHIELDS:

WILLIAM Witnesses Rronann SPARROW, ,Boss Easr. 

